Here With Me
by lovelystarz
Summary: Spencer James has a personal history with SGH but after running away from her life in San Francisco she comes to SGH for her surgical residency, thinking new friends and alcohol would make everything easier but SG isn't going to make it that easy, set S4.
1. Chapter 1

Spencer James' idea of home wasn't like everybody else. It wasn't the place where she lived, to Spencer that was just an apartment. A place where she hung around for a few hours primarily to sleep and shower. For Spencer there were two places that she called home, the first was Seattle the place where she had grown up living with her grandparents from the age of thirteen and then there were hospitals. Spencer had spent much of her childhood and adolescence roaming the halls of hospitals so it wasn't much of a surprise when she decided to become a doctor, specifically a surgeon. Now Spencer was about to start her first day of her residency and she felt good, Spencer felt better than good despite the fact that she was about to start working with people she didn't know. But she was home and that was that mattered, after leaving Seattle to attend college, med school and the go on to San Francisco fro her internship Spencer had come back to Seattle to continue her residency at Seattle Grace Hospital. For Spencer she was finally able to combine her two homes into one, she could spend her time in the OR knowing that she was working in the city that had meant so much to her as well as the hospital that she held very near and dear to her. As one of Seattle Grace's founders just so happened to be her grandfather Lucius Carlisle and he still happened to live in Seattle. So Spencer was thrilled to be able to work in the hospital that her beloved grandpa worked at and still be able to see him.

Coming out of OR 1 Spencer took a deep sigh of relief as she began taking off her surgical gown, it wasn't even 6am and already she had come out of what would hopefully be her first surgery of the day. She had been on call last night in the pit and a patient had come in complaining of chest pain and it turned out that he had an angina and a long story short he needed a coronary artery bypass graft and the cardio attending on call allowed her to scrub in and assist. As Spencer finished taking off her gown she noticed that the chief of surgery Richard Webber was making his way over to her.

"I hear the surgery went well Dr. James, that's a good start to your first day of being a resident."

"Thank you for taking me on such short notice Chief Webber, you don't know how much I appreciate this and I promise you I won't make regret hiring me." Spencer replied with a small smile, she had left the hospital that she had done internship as soon as she was no longer an intern. It was all done rather hurriedly in a rushed manner under the radar.

"There is no need to thank me Spencer, when you called and asked me if you called come to Seattle Grace to complete the rest of your residency there was no way I was going to say no. I have to admit that I was surprised when you didn't apply to Seattle Grace for your residency in the first place. I thought it was only natural that you'd come here as your grandfather was one of the founders of this hospital but I don't have to tell you that." Chief Webber stated and Spencer wearily smiled.

"I did think about coming here but I wanted to build my career under my own name and not under the shadows of my Grandpa and I spoke to him about beforehand and he agreed. My grandfather wanted to me to carve my surgical career on my own without the burden of his name and legacy always behind me. But it was inevitable that I'd come back to Seattle eventually, to this hospital…" Spencer quietly said as she had been born in this hospital twenty six years ago, if she was going to work anywhere in Seattle then it was only fitting for Spencer to work here.

"Where does your mother think you are?" Chief Webber asked as Spencer he followed her as she began to walk away from the door to OR1 and back towards the nurse's station. Spencer frowned at the mention of her mother, the two of them had never really got on at the best of time. But they hadn't spoken for the last few months and that's the way Spencer wanted to keep it, she had nothing to say to her mother at the moment. When Spencer had been offered a place as a resident at Seattle Grace she had asked Chief Webber not to mention that she was coming to Seattle to her mother. Chief Webber knew Spencer's mother Lily as her mother sat on the board of Seattle Grace and done for the last eight years ever since Spencer's grandfather retired from his position and passed it along to his only child.

"She thinks I'm at John Hopkins, so that gives me about eight months before she decides to come down and try and see me but by then I would figured out the next lie to tell her." Spencer replied, she had no problem lying to her mother in the slightest and most of her teenaged years consisted of Spencer lying to her mother's face about what she was doing.

"Spencer I don't have to remind you that Lily is a board member here and she does occasionally come into the hospital for meeting."

A smirk crossed Spencer's face, she was well aware of the fact that her mother would eventually have to come to Seattle for a board meeting but she had already taken that into consideration. "I thought about that and the likelihood of my mother running into me here is like slim to none and this is the last place she'd expect for me to be. Mom knows that I don't want to see her so me hiding right under her nose is perfect."

"How long has it been since you last spoke to her?" Chief Webber questioned as he and Spencer stopped in the middle of the surgical floor.

"Not since I left San Francisco but my dad passes along weekly messages to let her know that I'm alive. And before you say anything Richard I know she's my mother but after what she did I just need a break from her interfering in my life. After twenty six years I think that I deserve a break from her…"

"How's Ted?"

"Good, living life to the fullest but remembering to check in with a doctor every few weeks. He's actually preparing to go on a back packing trip through Asia with his girlfriend for two months so he's pretty excited about it." Spencer replied referring to her older brother Theodore commonly known as Ted, who was literally the opposite of her. Spencer was focused and dedicated her career, she had been the one who had studied practically everyday from the time she started school until she had graduated on med school. Ted on the other hand had always been the guy who had cruised through school without any effort, he was never tied down and was always getting up and leaving whenever he wanted. Ted never had any specific career goals but managed to make a career of himself as a chef because of some encounter in Thailand after he had graduated from high school.

"Well I should probably let you get going Spencer, you have a busy day ahead of you as you have residents to meet, interns to meet as well as some surgeries." Chief Webber stated with a small smile before walking away, Spencer stayed where she was for a brief moment before sighing. It may only be 6am but Chief Webber was right. Spencer had a very long day ahead of her. So she went and grabbed herself a cup of coffee before she headed over to residents lounge. When Spencer arrived there was only a couple of people in the room and Spencer headed over her cubby to grab her lab coat and stethoscope. This day was special. It was the day where she began afresh with no more lies and drama. Spencer had a good feeling about Seattle, it wouldn't be like San Francisco. Things would be different.

As Spencer sat on the bench facing towards her cubby from the corner of her eyes she noticed a man with slicked back hair and goatee standing in front of the cubby right next to hers. At first Spencer didn't pay any attention to the man until she noticed that every so often he kept glancing over to her.

"You know I can see you staring at me, right?" Spencer finally asked and the man just frowned at her briefly. "You got a reason for staring or is it just because I'm so nice to look at."

"I haven't seen you before."

"That's because it's my first day, I've just transferred over from UCSF medical." Spencer idly commented as she stood up and slid on her lab coat before putting her stethoscope around her neck. Glancing at her watch Spencer noted that she had ten minutes before she had to go and meet her new interns.

" –Wait… You're the new second year resident? Your Spencer James?"

"I see you've heard of me." Spencer noted, clearly the man was surprised to see that she was a female as most people would have presumed she was man before actually meeting her because of her name. Spencer completely understood and blamed her mom for the misconception she generally received for having such a male name when she was very much a female. Spencer's mother Lily was convinced that she was having another boy and as such she had only came with male names. Spencer came very much as a surprise to her mother who still insisted on calling her by the name she had spent months coming up with despite Spencer's father's best attempts to get his wife to change her mind. The only thing he could get was a feminine middle name. So Spencer had been named; Spencer Cordelia James.

"Yeah the Chief mentioned that you were coming a few weeks back, so what brings you to Seattle all the way from UCSF?"

"Personal reasons." Spencer replied.

"Keep talking."

"No offense but I don't even know you and I don't really want to get into how messed up my life is with strangers. Hence why it's called personal reasons."

"Look you're new and you don't know anybody else here so if we're gonna be friends them you might as well tell me now." The guy began before holding out his hand and Spencer took it and shook it. "Alex Karev."

"Spencer James but you already knew that." Spencer replied.

"So what brings you to Seattle from UCSF?" Alex questioned.

"If you want that information then your going to have to buy me at least one drink first." Spencer quipped with a small smirk before getting up and leaving the residents lounge. This was a fresh start for Spencer and she wasn't going to screw this up by letting her personal life get involved with her professional life. That was something that San Francisco had taught her a very hard lesson about and she didn't want a repeat of that as Spencer was still running from what happened in San Francisco. Spencer made her way back towards the nurses station on the surgical floor and whilst she waited for her interns to arrive she made sure that everything was ready i.e their pagers and trauma protocol book. This was going to be a flawless as Spencer wasn't in the business of repeating herself as the interns had a lot to learn in one year and if she had to repeat herself constantly then it would get her nowhere. Eventually a small group consisting of five people dressed in scrubs and lab coats trying their best to look confident when really they all looked like nervous kids. They were Spencer's interns.

"Dr. James?"

"First things first, I do not care about your personal problems or drama as I am not your friend. I am your resident and your job is to make me happy and not show me up in front of the other residents or the attending. You do what I say when I say it and maybe you'll have a chance of surviving this year…"


	2. Chapter 2

Spencer hated her interns. Sure she had a whole year to torture them, get them to run her labs, do all the things she didn't want to and whip them into somewhat decent surgeons. But they knew absolutely nothing and somehow Spencer had managed to end up with five of them when Alex had only ended up with three. For the last Twenty nine hours Spencer had to put up with her whiny interns continually asking her when they could get into the OR like they deserved something like that on their first shift as interns. The more they asked the more Spencer got annoyed as them bugging her constantly showed her that they weren't ready to be in the OR. They could barely do anything and Spencer wasn't going to let them scrub into a surgery and kill someone. She was barely letting them touch a patient unless they were under some kind of supervision as they were under her purview and if they did anything stupid, she would be held responsible for them. The idea of supervising the interns for another seven hours let alone for a whole year just made her want to hit the bottle. Already Spencer hated her interns, all three men and the two women. Bit it didn't change the fact that she had to teach them so Spencer would suck it up and teach them what she could as Seattle Grace was a teaching hospital and you kind of had to teach.

"How's it going James?"

Looking up from the chart Spencer saw that Dr. Bailey otherwise known as 'The Nazi' standing at the nurses station picking up a new chart. Spencer had learnt that Bailey was the one doctor who you did not want to piss off as not only was she an hard ass but she was the chief's favourite not to mention she practically ran the hospital. Then she was a great surgeon and the amount of authority and respected that her name alone commanded was incredible. Even her former interns still turned to her for advice. It was pretty cool. "I have five incompetent, idiotic, irresponsible interns and Karev only has three!"

"Sounds like your having a ball." Bailey noted and the amusement was very much clear in her voice.

"They know absolutely nothing Bailey, they can barely intubate and then I had to talk them through putting in a chest tube. They almost maimed a forty five year old man before I stepped in and all they want to know is when can they scrub in on a surgery. It is so infuriating as they are like children, it's only been a day but it's like I'm their mom as I have to talk them through everything, hold their hands and wiping their noses." Spencer noted as she shook her head, she was certain she wasn't that annoying when she was an intern, on her first day she already knew how to put in a chest cube and start an iv line as well as intubate. But then again she did come from a family of doctors, a grandfather who a retired neurosurgeon, a mother who was an oncologist and her father who was an orthopaedic surgeon. But that still didn't excuse the fact that her interns knew nothing, it was like they hadn't paid attention to anything they learnt in med school.

"Let me guess you thought this year was going to be easy? Torture some interns and occasionally teach them something whilst you get to scrub in on all the interesting surgeries." Dr. Bailey asked and Spencer grimly nodded.

"Is it that obvious?"

"You'll learn, don't worry James and you never know, those incompetent inters may surprise you." Bailey told her and Spencer seemed highly sceptical of this as right now she wasn't even sure her interns would survive the year. "Look at Grey, Stevens, Yang and Karev they manage not to be complete let down's and trust me when I say I had some serious doubts about them."

Yeah… Spencer's interns would surprise her by not almost killing someone on their first day Spencer thought to herself as she excused herself to go check on some patients before dealing with her interns. All in all the last forty-eight hours hadn't been two bad as she had scrubbed in on two separate surgeries and she had scared the crap out of the inters so badly that they were almost pissing themselves with fear and were all taking tentative steps around her and trying their best not to piss her off. Finally they were learning something, although it wasn't something that they could use to save a persons life. But it was something at least, it showed that somewhere deep down her interns had some kind of potential and by the time her shift was over Spencer was ready to get out of the hospital. When Spencer arrived back at the resident locker room to get changed she found Alex and Cristina there looking pretty much how she was feeling. No doubt there interns weren't the brightest scalpels in the surgical toolbox.

"James you look terrible." Alex pointed out and Spencer couldn't help but wearily laugh, she knew she looked terrible and this terrible looking person needed to have at least a drink or two.

"You guys want to share intern hating stories over a drink, my treat?"

"Sure, why not new girl?" Cristina said and once all three of them had finished changing out of their scrubs the threesome went to the bar that was across the street and they took a seat at the bar. Spencer had seen Meredith go off somewhere with Dr. Shepherd at the end of their shift and Izzie had disappeared to god knows where and Spencer wasn't going to look for her.

"Joe three beers when you're ready, oh and this is Spencer James, a new resident at the hospital." Alex said as a large man from behind the bar made his way over to them.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Dr. James."

"Right back at you Joe." Spencer replied with a warm smile as she had a feeling that she was going to spend a lot of time in this bar. Spencer didn't mind that much given that it was literally across the road of the hospital, which was very good as Spencer liked to drink. A lot, especially on bad days and teaching interns everyday was going to send Spencer to the bottle a lot or at least to the bar every so often.

"So where ya from?" Joe questioned as he set about getting their drinks together.

"All of over the place really but I was born here in Seattle and I moved around a lot but I came back to Seattle when I was fourteen until I left for college. The I moved around a lot to Boston, New York and then I ended up in San Francisco. Now I'm back here in Seattle for a while at least." Spencer replied with a small smile as she stifled a yawn, it had been a very long forty eight hours for Spencer and after she was finished here Spencer was going home to sleep for a straight twelve hours. Her first day at Seattle Grace had been very interesting to say the least, not to mention very long but despite that Spencer had managed to make friends with her fellow

"So why Seattle Grace?"

"I needed to get away from all the drama back in San Francisco." Spencer wearily said as Joe handed over the beers and Spencer took a long sip of hers before handing over the money. Having a nice cold beer after the long day she had was very nice but Spencer got distracted by Alex snorting at her comment as she just glanced at him.

"Good one." Cristina added.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Spencer questioned as she watched Alex and Cristina just looked at each other and laughed. Spencer knew that she was missing something here.

"You'll see."

"So you finally going to spill about why you came here Spencer?" Alex questioned and Spencer sighed, she wasn't took keen on talking about what had happened. But like Alex had told her earlier, she didn't know anyone here and he was sort of her first friend and he'd find out eventually so she might as well tell him now. Just get it off her chest and move on. What happened wasn't going to change just because Spencer was here in Seattle now.

"You really want to know? Well here it is, my dad was in a car accident a four months ago and it was pretty serious and he need a blood transfusion. The doctors asked if my brother and I could donate but my brother can't donate blood because medication he was on at the time. Which left me and I could donate as I'm type O but I realized later when I was looking over my father's chart that his blood type was AB and I knew my mother's was A positive just like my brother. Which meant I couldn't be parents child as parents with the blood types A& AB can't have a child with type O blood. It turns out that my father isn't my biological father, my mom had an affair with a colleague of hers and became pregnant with me. My dad didn't find out until I was twelve and it pretty much caused their divorce. My biological after had been around for a lot of my life, popping in and out and he was the one who wrote my recommendation for med school. He was the reason why I want to San Francisco for my residency, I wanted to work with him. But after my dad's accident and finding out this man I had looked up to and wanted to work with for all these years was my father and everyone was keeping a secret from me, I had to leave. Pretty pathetic reason for running away but I couldn't stay there anymore working with the man who had ruined my parents marriage. I know he's my bio dad and all but I just hate him, so that's my story." Spencer admitted before she took a long sing of her beer.

"Seriously?" Joe questioned before nodding his head in understanding. "So you figured you'd come home?"

Spencer laughed. "Something like that… I needed to leave San Francisco quickly but I also needed somewhere to do my residency. And I'm not really on speaking terms with my mom about the whole daddy thing so I figured I'd go the last place she'd look for me and so I called the Chief Webber and told him I was looking for a job and he offered me one there and then."

"The chief offered you a job there and then? Richard Webber, the Chief of Surgery offered you a job over the phone because you called and asked for one?" Cristina asked sceptically.

"Yeah… he couldn't really say no to me, I was born at Seattle Grace and the chief goes way back with my family so it kind of allowed me to pull some strings to be able to come here." Spencer wearily replied.

"Oh god, your mom was having an affair with the chief too…" Cristina said with a shake of a head.

"–Wait, what?" Spencer questioned.

"Chief Webber had an affair with Meredith's mom Ellis Grey." Alex explained clearing things up and Spencer had to admit that she was very surprised to hear this. Spencer would have never thought that Richard would ever cheat on Adele but apparently he had with Meredith's mom.

Spencer nodded, the name Ellis Grey sounded very familiar and she couldn't believe she hadn't made the connection sooner. "Meredith's mom was the Ellis Grey? That's mind blowing… But no my mom cheated on my dad however it was not with Richard Webber, the chief is friends with my mom because they worked together twenty years ago and my mom sits on the board here."

"Your mom sits on the board?" Cristina demanded and Spencer slowly nodded her head.

"M granddad was one of the founders of Seattle Grace and when he retired from the board she took his place and when the old the broad finally gets board she'll give it to me. So I decided to run away from San Francisco to here and work at the hospital where my mom sits on the board. I haven't spoken to her in four months, she thinks I'm in Baltimore working at John Hopkins. Once day my mom is going to come to Seattle Grace for a board meeting and we're going to run into each other and then everything will go boom! Stupid plan, even crazy…" Spencer wearily said,

"You don't say Spencer." Alex sarcastically added and Spencer just frowned at him before turning her attention to her beer. It was looking pretty empty and she definitely needed another one, or three…

"Joe keep the beers coming."


	3. Chapter 3

Seattle was nice. Spencer liked being in Seattle as the weather was more tolerable than San Francisco and it rained more and Spencer liked the rain. She liked Seattle as it had her pops and nana, it didn't have her lying mother or the biological dad she had been working under for the past year without even knowing he was her dad. Spencer had been working at Seattle Grace for just over a week and it felt like she had never been away. Spencer really felt like she was home again. Work was going great and she had made friends with several of her fellow second year interns, it was nice having the fresh start that she had. Even though her friends along with Chief Webber knew about what happened in San Francisco, it was different from what it was when Spencer was there. No one was looking at her, pointing and whispering because of the huge scene that had played out in the hospital hallways. With Spencer yelling at her mom, demanding the truth and Lily crying as she explained that Caspian James wasn't her biological father. Then came the encounter with her biological father Peter McAllister, there was yelling and swearing on Spencer's part as he tried to explain away all the lies. Spencer didn't have that anymore and she liked it. She wasn't the secret love child of the head of cardiology anymore. Here she was just Dr. James.

"Have you heard anything yet?"

Spencer sighed as she put down her fork, she was sitting eating lunch with Alex, Meredith, Izzie and Cristina, who would not stop questioning her on when a new head of cardio was being appointed as lately Spencer had been scrubbing in on most of the cardio surgeries whilst Cristina had been on Dr. Shepherd's service. Spencer had known Cristina for less than two weeks but it hadn't taken her long to realize that her new friend was gunning for cardiothoracics surgeries at any possible chance. She was even going to marry the former head of cardio here at Seattle Grace and even got to the alter but she was jilted. It was all messy and complicated and they didn't talk about it, they just drank a lot and talked about surgeries. "Seriously Cristina? Is that all you can think about?"

"Uh yeah."

"Well maybe you should think about something else at least for a little bit as we're only second year residents. There's no harm in scrubbing in to surgeries in different specialties, it just means more time in the OR. The board are obviously looking for a new head of cardio so just be patient, give it a few more weeks and I'm sure that will have found someone by then." Spencer replied as she took a sip of her water but she caught Alex scoff in amusement.

"That's not what I heard, people are saying that everyone the board has asked has turned down the job because of their scared that Yang will obliterate them!" Alex added and Crisitna glared at Alex.

"Shut it evil spawn!"

"Spencer you're going to be sitting on the board someday so surely you must get all the details. Can't you just ask them?" Izzie questioned and Spencer just rolled her eyes, Spencer had regretted telling them that her mother sat on the board of the hospital as since then it hadn't stopped coming up. Especially when it came to finding a new head of cardio. People wanted to know when a new one was coming and they all thought that Spencer could tell them as she had this inside connection to the board.

"For god sake, not you too Izzie."

Meredith laughed at the interaction. "She's right Spencer can't you ask your mom?"

"No I cannot and I will not because I have nothing to say to her because of that big issue of her lying to me and letting me and the father who raised me believe that we were biologically related when we are not. I am allowed to be angry with her and before you ask Cristina I'm not going to speak to my mother just to see what she knows about the situation. I haven't spoken to her in months and I'm not going to start just because you want some information."

"Come on Spencer I am dying here! You have to do something about this!" Cristina pleaded and Spencer sighed, she needed to do something to get Cristina off her case for a little while.

"Geez, I am not talking to my mother but I am having dinner with my grandfather tomorrow nigh so I will ask him to make some enquiries for me. I can't promise anything but pops still has strings he can pull here and get you some answers without me having to talk to my bloody mother. Now can we talk about something else?" Spencer stated, which seemed to satisfy everyone's opinion on the matter, which was good thing as the mere mention of her mother just seemed to wind Spence up.

"My interns almost castrated a guy while putting in a catheter." Alex began laughing to himself. "Stupid morons."

"At least your doing something with your inters, all I've done is save a deer and covering the pit and even then I get no surgeries!" Izzie added. "Unlike Spencer whose the attending's new favourite always seems to be coming out of surgeries!"

"I'm the brand new resident Izzie, I'm like a shiny new toy and everyone wants to have their turn playing with me." Spencer said waving off the notion that she was the attendings new favourite as she was far from it. The novelty of her arrival would wear off soon and Spencer would be judged by her talents in the OR which is what she wanted. Spencer wanted no favouritism, just to be judged on how much of a good surgeon she was.

"Stop complaining Izzie at least you don't have this doe eyed girl following you around claiming to be your sister and interfering in your life by talking to Derek about me as if they both don't have anything better to do." Meredith added and Spencer just laughed, she had come to Seattle to get away from all the drama but there were loads already here in Seattle. Spencer had finally figured out that this was what Alex and Cristina was talking about that night in the bar after their first shift.

"Mer, you think that's hard? Try having the little stalker as an intern and instead of doing what I tell her to do she's day dreaming of how awesome she thinks her big sister Meredith is and all the fun they're going to have together." Cristina retorted.

"She's not my sister." Meredith stated bluntly.

"Um… but she kind of is Mer." Izzie pointed out.

"No she's not Izzie I'm an only child, now can we please stop talking about fake sisters and adulterous moms." Meredith said and the five of them all fell into silence for a minute before Alex started laughing which set the rest of them all off.

Spencer laughed at the interaction between her new friends, she had never met so many dysfunctional people in her life. Between the sleeping with attendings, vets and patients to contracting syphilis, teaching interns and scrubbing into surgeries they were certainly an interesting bunch. When she had left San Francisco Spencer was hoping to leave all the drama and dysfunction behind her but apparently not. But the dysfunction here at Seattle Grace was different and Spencer had to admit that they did things different here. But it was a good different and it was certainly interesting not to mention entertaining. Spencer couldn't remember the last time she felt so content with herself and her life. More than ever Spencer was glad to be back home in Seattle.

"Dr. James?" a voice asked from behind and putting down her drink Spencer didn't have to turn around to know that it was at least two of her interns. They had taken to approaching her in groups of two or more as none of them felt confident enough to go to Spencer by themselves. It was funny how scared they were of her.

"You better not have killed someone and are just coming to me now because I will eat you and then spit you out and you will not go anywhere near an OR for a month." Spencer warned as she took another French fry.

"N-no." One of the interns stuttered and Spencer recognized the voice to be Dr. Mayer, who was one of her female interns who had finally learned how to put in a chest tube much to the relieve of Spencer.

"Then why are you here? Can't you see this is where the residents eat not stupid interns!?" Alex demanded and Spencer how to look down as she tried not to laugh in order to remain an authority figure to her interns.

"W-we brought Dr. James a coffee." Dr. Williams another one of Spencer's interns said as he placed the coffee in front of Spencer narrowly avoiding spilling the hot beverage down Spencer's scrubs.

"Go check on my patients and see if my labs are back and if you're lucky I might let you scrub in with me on the aortic valve replacement." Spencer announced as she ate another fry. "Now go away."

"You're scrubbing in on a aortic valve replacement?" Cristina asked as Spencer's interns quickly took off without another work.

"–Forget about the surgery Cristina, how did you get them to fear you so much Spencer? They do whatever you ask without second guessing you, it's amazing." Izzie questioned in amazement and Spencer couldn't help but feel sorry for her as her interns really didn't take her that seriously.

"Well firstly I went to personnel and convinced them to let me read my interns files before giving a speech so terrifying that Lucifer himself would quake in his own boots. I use a variety of methods like making them think I'll let them scrub in they don't kill anyone and then I do loads of competitions with them and then I use a bit of operant conditioning." Spencer revealed as she continued to eat. "It's all about keeping them on their toes and making sure that they're always ready for the unexpected because not only does it make me look good but they'll turn out to be half way decent doctors when I'm done with them."


	4. Chapter 4

"Dr. James."

Spencer looked up from the medical journal that she was reading to see Dr. Mark Sloan otherwise known as McSteamy; otolaryngologist and head of plastic surgeon here at Seattle Grace. From what Spencer had seen he did excellent work although he was more known around the hospital for his extracurricular activities. Apparently he used to be Dr. Sheppard's best friend until he had slept with his wife back when the two of them lived in New York. Dr. Sloan was a very good guy, Spencer wasn't blind as she had eyes and they could see how good looking he was and Dr. Sloane knew it which made him extremely arrogant, even for a surgeon. Spencer hadn't had a chance to work with him yet as she had been pretty busy on neuro's service but it didn't mean she didn't want to work with him at some point. Dr. Sloan had quite the reputation for himself as his work was good, well better than good as he was known as the go to go on the east coast. He was one of the best and Spencer wanted to learn from the best no regardless of what their surgical speciality was.

"Dr. Sloan, what can I can do for you today?" Spencer asked with a smile on her face, she had been told to always keep her attendings happy and if that helped her scrub in more surgeries then she would smile until she was blue in the face. There was no point of Spencer being here if she wasn't getting any OR time as she need to keep her skills up, to sharpen and hone in on them. Spencer didn't want to be a mediocre surgeon, she didn't decided to become a surgeon just to be mediocre. She wanted to be one of the best and to be that she to work to get it.

"I have a facial reconstruction today and I thought that you might like to join me considering that we've yet to work together since you arrived at Seattle Grace." Mark replied and Spencer lowered her journal and looked up rather interested as that did sound like a very good case but there was just one problem that was stopping her.

"Tempting, but I'm on neuro's service for the next couple of days and I'm scheduled to assist Dr. Shepherd later on today so I'll have to decline but thank you for the offer. It was nice of you to ask me, why don't you try Karev or Yang? They might be interested in scrubbing in with you." Spencer replied as she went back to reading her journal, as much as she hated to turn down working with Dr. Sloan she decided to throw her friends a bone. Alex had an interest in plastics so sending Sloan in his direction was something she could do, especially if she could use it against him later on like when it came to trading shifts.

"But I don't want Yang or Karev, I want you James and I know that you want me!" Mark told Spencer as he came towards her and sat on one of the desks at the nurses station, which made her put down her magazine in amusement, either Dr. Sloan was flirting with her or she was just getting the wrong end of stick. But she was pretty sure it was the first one as the way Dr. Sloan had worded that sentence was pretty suggestive. Not that Spencer minded, in fact she was rather amused and slightly impressed that Dr. Sloan generally behaved in such a forward manner.

"Is that so?" Spencer asked with a raised eyebrow, this place was actually terrible considering it seemed like people were more concerned with having sex then actually doing work – not there was anything wrong with that but still. Despite how handsome Dr. Sloan was, Spencer had sworn off men for a while especially surgeons here as given Meredith Cristina's history, it was bound not to end well which was too bad for Dr. Sloan. Not to mention Spencer was trying to avoid messy and complicated problems which generally came with mixing persona and professional lives together.

"C'mon James, the two of us standing across the OR table creating a piece of art is far more interesting that watching Shepherd talk for hours on end whilst he only lets you do something every forty minutes… Ditch Shepherd and join me." Mark prompted and Spencer smiled, she had to admit that he made a very good sales pitch. "I'll even let you make the first incision…"

"Dr. Shepherd promised that he'd let me drill into the skull all by myself." Spencer quipped, if he was trying to bribe her to get of neuro then Dr. Sloan was going to have to do much better than that.

"A craniotomy? You're shooting me and my facial reconstruction down for a simple craniotomy? Have you lost your mind woman or did they not teach you anything in San Francisco?" Mark demanded and Spencer had to admit that she was rather amused by this entire conversation, she had never been propositioned about a surgery but she rather liked it.

"I am open to other suggestions." Spencer replied as she picked up her journal and continued from where she had left off. She was still sticking with assisting Dr. Sheppard regardless of what Dr. Sloan offered but that didn't mean she wasn't interested in what he had to offer.

Mark grinned. "Is that so?"

"Nice try Dr. Sloan but I'm not letting you poach Spencer, she's on my service for the next few days and we're going to have fun not to mention save lives unlike you who spends most of your day doing boob jobs and tummy tucks." Derek began insulting Dr. Sloan's speciality as he made his way over to the nurse's station. "Do you mind if I call you Spencer, Dr. James?"

"Not at all, Dr. Shepherd go right ahead." Spencer said with a small shrug of her shoulders, if he wanted to call her by her first then he could go right ahead, it was no skin off her back. Spencer couldn't care less whether people here called her Spencer or James except for the interns. They had to call her Dr. James as they were interns and had no right to address her by her first name in any capacity.

"Derek."

"I think I'll stick to Sheppard." Spencer wearily replied before narrowing her eyes at the two men, something was going on and she was pretty certain that she knew what it was about. It was definitely not about her but they were using that as a cover. "This thing, the two of you competing for my service it's about tomorrow isn't it and whose coming to visit?"

"No but what's me trying to get you off Shepherd's service got to do with one of the old coot whose visiting the hospital tomorrow? I get that he founded the hospital and used to be some big shot back in the day but that was back in the day, the guy is ancient now…" Mark asked and Spencer's lips twitched in amusement as Derek looked at the floor. "What?"

"The old coot is Spencer's grandfather Mark." Derek explained as Spencer noticed the sheepish look that appeared on Mark's face as he realized what he had just done. Spencer hadn't been offended in the slightest, in fact she thought it was pretty ballsy and rather refreshing. Attendings had been kissing her ass all week because of her grandfather but not Dr. Sloan. Instead he took to insulting her grandfather.

"Oh."

Spencer laughed, so Dr. Sloan wasn't kissing up to her because of who her grandfather was. He couldn't seem to care less as shown by the fact that he had unknowingly insulted Lucius Carlisle in front of his only granddaughter.

That was a first and certainly interesting, Spencer liked the fact that Dr. Sloan went about doing things his own way and had no interest in kissing up to people. If Spencer didn't have a rule about mixing personal and professional lives together then they could have fun. But the rule was there for a reason.

"Yeah that old coot is mine and he is old but he's my pops and I love him a lot so I couldn't really say no when he asked if he could come down to his old stomping grounds to visit me here after my first month at Seattle Grace. Well I say he asked but really he called the Chief and told him he was coming so now everyone is making a huge deal about it. Pops will no doubt be bringing his cheque book along with him and donate some money and from what I've heard through the gossip mill the money will go to the service I'm on tomorrow. Hence why most of the attendings have been fighting over me like I'm some prized horse which I guess I am in a way… Me? I couldn't care less where I am but someone thought it would be a good idea if I, the granddaughter of one of the founders of this hospital assisted the head of neuro in surgery tomorrow. Given that my grandfather is a neurosurgeon and he was the first head of neurosurgery here…" Spencer idly explained as whilst she wasn't too thrilled about this whole dog and show thing she was going along with it. Her grandfather wanted to see her in his element and who was Spencer to say no to him? He had practically raised her in more ways then her and the inspiration for her wanting to become a surgeon.

"Well I assure you Dr. James that my interest in you in is more than just professional and it isn't about money or kissing ass." Mark said and the look that he gave Spencer told her everything that she needed to know – or in her case already knew.

Derek rolled his eyes whilst Spencer laughed. "You really have no shame, do you?"

"Talk about the pot calling the kettle black, at least I'm not kissing ass to get what I want."

Spencer laughed as she stood up and walking over to Mark she tapped his chest repeatedly for good measure. "Nice try Dr. Sloan, your good I'll give you that and your offer is the most interesting one that I've had all week, but I don't sleep with co-workers…"


	5. Chapter 5

The hardest year of Spencer's life without a doubt was her intern year both personally and professionally, it was both gruelling and punishing, leave Spencer feeling mentally exhausted whilst it was done. But she also loved the challenge of it, the adrenaline it gave her which seemed to allow her to run off she sheer fumes after getting practically no sleep. However Spencer was glad that the previous year was now over and behind her as she got settled into her new life in Seattle. The dynamics were certainly different then what she was used to and Spencer was now thriving in being a resident as it meant that she was good enough to be here. For the most part she had shaken off the new toy tag that had following her and she was no longer seen as the new resident that everyone could play with. Spencer had established her self as a capable and very competent surgeon but her grandfather's visit was casting yet more unwanted attention on to her. Spence didn't place the blame on her grandfather nor did she want to as he was an old man who wanted to come see his grandchild at work. There was nothing wrong with that as Spencer used to come visit him at Seattle Grace all the time but back then she was idly unware of how important her grandfather was as all he was to Spencer was her pops. Upon her arrival this morning at the hospital Spencer had been trying her hardest to keep her head down and avoid all talk about her grandfather if she could.

"Good morning Spencer." Derek said as he approached Spencer who was sitting at the nurses station with her feet propped up on a desk eating a sprinkled doughnut whilst filling out a chart. Multitasking between meal and snack times had become her thing now, it saved her so much time and the hassle of having to do her charts after work or when a shift was deadly quiet. "So where is he?"

Spencer remained as nonchalant as possible and did her best to remain as neutral as she could and not respond to the questions as she continued to eat her doughnut, she knew who Dr. Shepherd was referring to given the fact that everyone had asked her the same damn question for the last four hours since she had arrived at work. "Who?"

"Your grandfather Spencer, where is he? Is he still not here yet?" Derek asked.

There it was. Spencer sighed to herself before swinging her legs down of the nurses station and she did up to so she could face her attending. "Derek we're kind of friends now so I can say to this you. My grandfather is seventy two years old and whilst he is in very good health for a man his age, he is an old man and as such I refused to wake him up at 5am because I had to get here early for rounds and he needs his rest. I've arranged for a car to pick up him from his house and bring him here, don't worry my pops will be here eventually."

Derek nodded slowly. "Oh. Okay."

"Relax, he'll be here. When Grandpa Carlisle says he'll do something he does it, my pops is the most honest man I know and he always keeps his word but can I give you a word of advice?"

"Go right ahead Spencer…" Derek asked wearily.

"My grandpa is great man and all, love him to death but he is not for ass kissing so don't do it too much, like it's great how he founded this hospital and was it's first neurosurgeon but that's not why he's here today so don't make too much of a deal about it. Then he's going to ask you how I've been doing on your service so don't sugar coat it, if I done something wrong to not to your liking just come out for it. He'll respect you more for your honesty and then it allows me to fix it and that's why I'm here after all, to learn and become a better surgeon."

"Anything else?"

"Um… don't treat him like an old man and I know that sounds that ridiculous given that I'm letting him stay home and sleep but I'm his granddaughter and I can get away with it. He may be seventy two but he is far from being dead… Then don't try to explain all the new developments in neuro because he keeps up with it. But your welcome to discuss any of it with him and he knows about you, he likes to keep an eye on the neuro department so he's followed your career so don't be surprised if he asks you about it. Most importantly just be yourself, that is all he can ever want." Spencer explained with a small nod of her head.

"Okay…" Derek replied wearily.

"Relax you'll do fine, my pops is a very lovely man, he doesn't have a mean bone in his body although just don't ask about the money and donation thing because even though I know, he knows, you know and everyone else knows he's going to donate money. This trip is about me and not about the money." Spencer said as tapped Derek's shoulder in a reassuring manner, she suspected that this visit was putting on quite a bit of pressure for not just her. Derek was the head of neurosurgery and today he was going to meet not only one of the founders of the hospital but the first head of neurosurgery. If Spencer was Dr. Sheppard she would be pretty daunted at that prospect.

About two hours later Spencer stood outside the main entrance of Seattle Grace as a town car slowly pulled out up and moments later her grandfather stepped out. Lucius Carlisle may be an old man but he was Spencer's favourite person in the entire world because her grandfather gave as good as he got plus he always had time for Spencer despite how busy he could be. Some of Spencer's best memories were those spent with her grandfather, as he always understood her and what was going on inside her head. Which was part of the reason why Spencer had decided to move in her with her grandparents when he was fourteen. Her grandfather also generally took her side when it came to matters with her mother.

"There is my wonderful granddaughter…"

"Hey Grandpa! I'm so glad that you could make it here today." Spencer replied as she came over and hugged her grandfather before taking his arm and leading him into the hospital. "It must be nice to be back here."

"Indeed although not as nice as seeing you again my darling Spencer, you really need to stop by the house more often. Your grandmother and I thought that you coming back to Seattle would mean we'd see you more but we haven't." Lucius stated with the warm smile that Spencer had known all her life.

"I know I've just been really busy with work lately but I promise I will stop by real soon and spend some quality time with you and Nana. You both know that I love being at home with you guys most but I am really loving working here and things are going well. My interns haven't killed anyone yet but there's still time and I still hate them…" Spencer replied with a small chuckle, which caused her grandfather to smile.

"Must make you very happy that your no longer an intern Spencer, the student is now the master…" Lucius noted.

"And that worries me Grandpa, I know that I wasn't that bad as an intern as they are that incompetent and my ass is on the line if they mess up, I'm trying to teach them here but all they seemed to be concerned with is gossiping and kissing my ass in order to scrub in with my surgery with Dr. Shepherd today… You know everyone is kind of freaking out about you visiting today, asking me questions about you." Spencer explained.

"And the attendings have no doubt been letting you scrub in on surgeries in order to grease the wheels."

Spencer nodded gleefully, despite his age her grandfather didn't miss a trick. "Yep, like tomorrow I have a double valve bypass tomorrow and a whipple. I've even had to turn down some surgeries because of the amount of time I've been spending in the OR."

"You will be a very fine surgeon someday Spencer, that I know and having you here in Seattle is very pleasing. Never did I imagine all those years ago when Seattle Grace was founded did I ever imagine that my granddaughter would be born here and then go on to follow in my footsteps to become a surgeon"

"Mom still isn't thrilled about it, I think she would have preferred for me to follow in her footsteps so we could then I would join her practice and we'd be some happy fricking family." Spencer scoffed.

"Speaking of your mother, she called me a few days ago to inform me that she still hasn't heard from you and that if she hadn't been receiving weekly calls from your father about your well being. Lily would have called the police already or a private detective… You need to speak to her Spencer, she's very worried about you." Lucius prompted and Spencer sighed she knew that this conversation would be coming eventually much to her dismay.

"I have nothing to say to her pops, nothing at all. I said everything I needed to say back in San Francisco,"

"Lily made a mistake Spencer there is no denying that and she feels terrible about it and she never wanted it to come out the way it did. I know you feel betrayed sweetheart and you have every right to be as it was lot of information to take especially at a traumatic time. You know that it hasn't changed anything for Caspian, he is still your father and always has been regardless of what biology says. He loves you Spencer just like your mother does." Lucius stated and Spencer bit her lip as she and her grandfather entered the hospital and straight away she led her grandfather over to a wheelchair. As he was too old to be on his feet for a long time.

"But dad didn't have an affair it was a mom and she lied about it, for twenty six years and probably would have gone on with it for the rest of my life. Dad had no idea for twelve years that I wasn't biologically his and then it came out and despite me not being his, I was legally his daughter because mom put his name on my birth certificate despite knowing that dad wasn't my father. Mom allowed Peter to be in all our lives and act like nothing was wrong. Mom allowed me to go to the hospital were he worked without even blinking. Grandpa your right about dad still being my father despite the fact that I'm not biologically related to him and for the last fourteen years he's had to look at me and know that I'm a product of an affair his former wife had. I know he lied as well but he is not as bad as mom. She is the bad guy grandpa, she didn't just make a mistake she had been making them for almost thirty years and lying every day about it with no qualms. It's not as easy as it seems pops, it's not matter of simply forgiving her for some little lie. It wasn't a little lie, it was everything I thought I knew about my life."

"I know your hurting sweetheart but so is she and I don't like it when my girls are hurting." Lucius stated and Spencer couldn't help but sigh.

"I need time Grandpa a lot of it before I can even begin to think about talking to her or letting her know I'm back in Seattle. Right now I am not in the place where I am not comfortable in seeing or talking to my mother. I just want to focus on you and my job right now." Spencer quietly said.

"That is all I can ask of you, now let's go meet this McDreamy you've been telling me so much about."


	6. Chapter 6

When Spencer stepped into the OR, nothing else really mattered. Anything that was on her mind before, anything from the outside world just slipped away and no longer mattered. It was like being in the OR was your own personal little bubble and none of the noise from the outside could be heard. When she was in surgery the only thing that Spencer was focusing on was what was in front of her. Surgery was sort of like a game of chess, it needed precision and patience but you always had to be a few steps ahead, prepared for what could happen. However you couldn't over think it, you had to sort of be in the moment and take things as they came but be prepared at the same time. Spencer loved every moment of it. Growing up Spencer had been taught chess by her grandfather and as she got older, Lucuis would tell Spencer about surgeries he had preformed whilst they played each other. Spencer loved hearing her grandfather's stories as the detail he gave was so precise and full of detail that each story left Spencer in awe and wanting to hear more. Lucius Carlisle was the reason why Spencer had become a surgeon, that and her father. But it was mostly her grandfather so having him hear watching her assisting on a craniotomy in the hospital he founded was so surreal and as she stood in the OR next to Dr. Sheppard, Spencer was feeling the pressure ever so slightly. So far everything had been going smoothly and it needed to stay that way. If the patient took a turn for the worst and died, things wouldn't be good.

"How are you doing Dr. James?" Derek asked.

"I'm fine over here."

"So what's it like growing with Dr. Lucius Carlisle as your grandfather?" Derek questioned and Spencer's eyes wondered over to the gallery where she saw her grandfather carefully watching over them.

"Pretty cool, my grandfather is an amazing man and without a doubt he has accomplished so much and I'm very proud of him but he's just my pops to me." Spencer replied as her and Dr. Sheppard continued removing parts of the tumour

"You two sound close."

"We are, my pops is my best friend and I even moved back to Seattle was thirteen so I could live with him and my grandpa. I stayed with them until I left for college so him and my grandma are happy I'm back home…" Spencer stated quietly as she focused the majority of her attention on resecting her part of the tumour. It wasn't the big one she had seen but it was big enough that Spencer had to be very delicate and take her time with it.

"He must be proud of you for following in his footsteps and ending up here." Derek asked.

"Stuff like that doesn't matter to my grandfather, for him as long as we're happy and doing something that we love then he is happy. He is no more prouder of me then he is off my brother the chef. I never had any pressure into following in his footsteps or any of my parents. I made the choice to go into medicine of my own accord and when I told my grandfather he said he would support me entirely." Spencer quipped in an amused tone of her voice. "I knew I wanted to be a doctor from the time I moved back to Seattle, one night I was helping him make dinner when I asked my grandfather why he wanted to become a surgeon my pops gave me an answer that I wasn't expecting. I thought he would say it was because he wanted to save lives. But it wasn't that, well not entirely. When I asked him my grandpa said it was because he said he wanted to see how the brain functioned, he wanted to be able to six it when he fixed it. I didn't understand at the time but pops said that some doctors treat patients without really seeing the problem from inside. My grandfather said he wanted to be one of those doctors who looked at the problem face on and could see what the problem was right in front of him so he could treat it. At my med school interview that was the answer I gave when they asked why did I want to become a doctor."

"Have you started thinking of a speciality?"

"Are you offering?" Spencer quipped and it caused Derek to laugh.

"Depends on whether or not Dr. Sloan has bet me to the punch with his never ending supplying of facelifts and boob jobs." Derek retorted and now it as Spencer's turn to laugh.

"In all seriousness I don't really have my mind set on a speciality as right now I want to learn all I can where I can whether it's how to perform a craniotomy or a rhinoplasty. I have plenty of time to decide what I want to specialize in and I'll take my time in deciding as it has to be something that I have an interest in doing." Spencer explained and Derek nodded in understanding.

"Makes sense."

When the surgery was completed and their patient was on his way to recovery, Spencer made her way to the waiting area of the surgical wing where she found her grandfather talking animatedly with Karev. Spencer didn't trust her interns with her grandfather as they would have probably killed him so she had asked Alex to hang out with him for a while given that she had got him in on that facial reconstruction surgery with Dr. Sloan.

"Sorry to interrupt but do you think I can steal my grandpa away for lunch?" Spencer quipped

"No problem, probably should go check on my interns and make sure they haven't killed anyone, it was nice to meet you Dr. Carlisle. You didn't do too much of a bad job with this place old man." Alex stated in a joking manner as he got up from his seat.

"Thanks Alex, you did me a solid one taking care of my pops so I hope you enjoyed that facial reconstruction as it's the last surgery I'm ever going to freely toss your way!" Spencer stated as she took off her scrub cap and tucking it into her pocket, as Alex rose him and Spencer bumped fists as he walked away.

"I like him, he's nice and rough on the edges which is a good combination." Lucius said and Spencer rolled her eyes at her grandfather's tone of voice.

"Well he's just a friend, you know I don't colleagues pop… So what did you think of the surgery? Honestly tell me what you think about how I did and don't sugar coat it." Spencer asked as she took control of the wheelchair her grandfather was sitting and began to push him towards the elevators. Spencer was going to take him to the cafeteria to get something to ate before she went to seek out those interns of hers.

"The surgery was flawless, a textbook craniotomy and you preformed impeccably although I did see you struggle at one point. But given the location of the tumour and the fact that you're only a second year resident you did better than most your age would do." Lucuis stated and Spencer nodded her head in agreement as took on the criticism that was given to her. It honestly wasn't too bad but regardless Spencer would take on her father's feedback. "That Dr. Sheppard is very good, I'm glad I got to finally see him operate in person. He's even better than they say."

"Well you only saw him perform a craniotomy, but I've heard about a standstill operation that he preformed last year on the owner of the bar across the road from here." Spencer informed, knowing that it would impress her grandfather very much.

"I'd very much like to hear about that." Lucius noted and Spencer murmured in agreement as she'd like to hear about the standstill operation in more detail herself. She had never seen one preformed and during her time in San Francisco she had never heard of one being preformed. It was a fascinating surgical procedure so hearing about it in detail from someone who had preformed one would be pretty amazing to hear about it first hand. Spencer knew her grandfather would definitely enjoy something like that given the fact that he didn't get to perform procedures like that anymore since he had retired from performing surgery almost ten years ago when he turned sixty two. As Spencer wheeled her grandfather around she couldn't help but notice Dr. Sloan coming towards her and she knew things were going to be interesting as the man amused Spencer very much.

"Well if it isn't Dr. James, how'd that craniotomy of yours go?" Mark asked.

"Perfectly, the patient is now in post op recovering."

"I'm glad to see that you didn't die of boredom." Mark stated and Spencer couldn't help but laugh first Mark had insulted her grandfather and now he was insulting her pops' speciality right in front of him.

"Grandpa I'd like you to meet Dr. Mark Sloan, the head of the plastics department here." Spencer began making introductions with a wicked smile plastered on her face as the two men shook hands. "Dr. Sloan I'd like you to meet my grandfather Dr. Lucuis Carlisle, former chief of staff and head of neurosurgery here at Seattle Grace along with being one of it's founders."

"This is the one who called me the ancient old coot?" Lucius questioned and Spencer couldn't help but snicker in amusement especially at the look of Mark's face. It was a mix between surprise and confusion at what was going on.

"Yeah this is him pops."

"You told him." Mark asked in surprise and Spencer just grinned as she glanced down at her grandfather who was also smiled.

"Of course I did, grandpa even found it funny."

"It's nice to see a surgeon whose not afraid of speaking his god damn mind around me without worrying that I'll kneel over and die of shock. I keep telling my Spenny I may be old but I'm not dead yet!" Lucius added which caused Mark to laugh and Spencer to roll her eyes.

"Spenny, huh?" Mark questioned in amusement at the reference to the nickname.

"Don't even think about it Sloan." Spencer threatened as the last thing she needed was for him to start going around calling her Spenny. Only her family called Spencer that and even then she wasn't the biggest fan of it.

"Well he can not think about it over lunch dear granddaughter of mine, anyone who had the balls to call me an old coot and still come and shake my hand can let me buy them lunch anyday!"


End file.
